Prime
Some of my ministers are not Ugandans, says Museveni
President Museveni
What you need to know:
There is no article in the 1995 Constitution that bars the President from appointing non-citizens from the Cabinet.
Kampala
President Museveni says some of the members of his cabinet are not from Uganda.
He named Julius Wandera Maganda, the State minister for East African Affairs as one of them.
“Now, minister Maganda, strictly speaking I don’t regard him as a Ugandan…” said Mr Museveni on January 23 during the East African Legislative Assembly meeting in Kampala.
“…most likely, he is a Kenyan. At one time, they had a Vice President in Kenya called Moody Awori who has a brother [Aggrey Awori] who wanted to be President of Uganda but I defeated him.”
Mr Julius Wandera Maganda, the State minister for East African Affairs
Mr Maganda and Mr Aggrey Awori, who from 2009 to 2011 was Uganda’s minister of Information and Communication Technology, are from Busia, a border district with Kenya and 196 kilometres east of Kampala.
During his guerrilla days, Mr Museveni would often ‘meet’ members of the Awori family in Funyula and Bunyore in Kenya – the reason Mr Museveni in July 2007 bestowed Mr Moody Awori with the Nalubaale Medal and later, in May 2017, hosted him at State House Entebbe.
Mr Museveni added that he does not know where some of his ministers belong because when he asks his ministers where they come from, they don’t tell him.
“Some of them are actually South Sudanese,” he said.
All this, he said, to show that there are linguistic, cultural and historical links among the people in the six-member East African Community.
Mr Museveni might as well have been speaking with tongue-in-cheek.
Mr Aggrey Awori. FILE PHOTO
He made the remarks during the opening of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) session in Kampala.
“I am now 73-years-old. God could have called me when I was 50, but he postponed the summons. And if I don’t use that chance to talk about East African integration, I will be causing myself [back luck]. If God gives you an opportunity and you fail to exploit it He might withdraw it. So I will come all the time because I have the strength to come and the opportunity to come,” Mr Museveni added.
He further noted that: “This [East African] integration is about the future of our people. It's not about positions. It's not about you people (EALA representatives) but your people; the ones you represent."
